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Son Goku
|manga debut = Saiyuki Vol. 01, intro |anime debut = Saiyuki Ep. 01 |seiyuu = Sōichirō Hoshi (保志 総一朗) |english = Greg Ayres Jimmy Benedict |stage = Shina Taizoh |skills = Expert martial artist |weapons = Nyoi Bo }} Son Goku (孫悟空 Son Gokū) is the cheerful "Monkey King" who uses a staff, known as the Nyoi-Bo, as his primary weapon. He carries with in him the Seiten Taisei, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and whose true self and powers are released when his coronet is removed. Goku joins Genjo Sanzo, Cho Hakkai, and Sha Gojyo on their journey to the west to stop the resurrection of Gyumaoh. Personality Goku is almost always cheerful, and is the group's unofficial mascot. He can make anyone - even Sanzo at some points - smile or laugh when something bad happens. A running gag is that Goku only thinks about food, and so far, this has been proven true most of the time. His stating a simple cry of "I'm hungry!" has led this to become almost like a catchphrase, and most people - Gojyo and Sanzo in particular - have lashed out (usually in a humorous way) at Goku about his constant declaration about wanting food. Aside from being cheerful and almost always hungry, Goku is the "Monkey King" of many Chinese and Japanese myths, and is always up for a good prank or joke. He also tries to be helpful, but because of his prankster disposition, he usually gets himself and others into trouble instead of actually helping. He is very ashamed by this, especially when he causes Sanzo trouble without really meaning to, and for the most part he tries his best to stay on task. Being the "Monkey King" of legend, however, staying on task is not one of his strong points. When it comes to others, Goku is more friendly to people than his traveling companions. He always greets people that he likes - or who give him food - with a smile, and generally likes any type of kindhearted person. He has befriended many creatures over the series, youkai and human alike. He will, however, fight someone he generally dislikes or has done some kind of wrongdoing no matter how big or small. He has been compared by many as hero stereotypical characters seen in anime. But he has stated that he is fighting for his right to live, and his alone. He has also shown that he will fight anyone trying to get in his or his group's way. He likes fighting, displaying enjoyment comparable to a child playing a game. Appearance episode 16]]Despite his chronological age, Goku has the physical appearance of a young teenage boy standing at 5'4" (162 cm) and weighing in at 112 lbs (51 kg). When he was first found by Sanzo he had long brown hair which was cut by Sanzo or the monks. He has striking gold eyes which brand him as a heretic. He skin has a healthy tan look to it, though whether that is because he is actually tan or he just needs a bath has yet to be clarified. Around his head is his gold diadem, his demon power limiter. As a child, Goku had very long hair that reached down to his hips, when he started living with Sanzo, he started to bind it with ribbon into a ponytail. In the Saiyuki Reload manga extra, Petite Burial, it shows Goku's hair was accidentally cut off by Gojyo when he first used the extending chain sickle of his Shakujo, which upset Goku greatly. In Saiyuki Gaiden Goku is a being with the power to equal Heaven. In fact, he is even considered a god or Sage by Ukuko Sanzo and Kanzeon Bosatsu, The Merciful Goddess. He is called Seiten Taisei, "Great Sage Equal to Heaven", and is regarded as a symbol of chaos and destruction, with "golden eyes of misfortune", a heretic being. Goku was born in a rock egg that for centuries collected the Earth's aura atop Mt. Kakayama. After he was born, Heaven found him and put the limiters on him. He was brought before Kanzeon by the traveler from Heaven, Egan. After a mishap involving the young saru's grabby fingers and Kanzeon's nephew's, one Konzen Douji, long golden hair (not so long anymore), Kanzeon decided that Konzen would be Goku's new guardian. Neither of the two were very happy with this decision at first. Goku and Konzen had a rough start, such as Goku making paper airplanes out of Konzen important documents. While hiding from Konzen one day, Goku ran into a young boy who was also evading his own punishment. That young boy turned out to be the young War Prince Nataku. Goku and Nataku become friends quickly and even though Goku didn't have a name at the time, he promises Nataku that he'd tell him his name next time. That night Goku demands that Konzen name him to which Konzen says he'll just call him Saru. Goku gets mad and throws a pillow at Konzen. Konzen eventually mutters the name Goku, a name that Goku takes a liking to. ]] Goku later meets Konzen's friend, Field Marshall Tenpou who insists that Goku call him "Tenpi" or "Ten-chan". Goku also runs into Tenpou's colleague, General Kenren, while sneeking around a Tentei's castle looking for Nataku who was at the time in the lower world fighting Gyumoah. To get Goku out of a scrape with some lesser god folks, Kenren claims that Goku is his secret love child. With the lesser gods left speechless Kenren escorts Goku out without anymore issues. Outside, he asks Goku what he was doing and when he hears that Goku was looking for Nataku, Kenren's interests are piqued. When it is announce shortly there after that Nataku has returned, Goku runs off to meet him. When he finds Nataku, Nataku crumbles into his arms. Apparently he didn't return unscathed. After he is bandaged up Goku waits by his side until Nataku wakes up. When he does, Goku and Nataku make plans to explore Heaven together when Nataku get better. Sadly, they never get too. Their relationship becomes strained thanks to Nataku's duties and his father, Li Touten. , Konzen Douji, Kenren, & Tenpou from Saiyuki Gaiden OVA]]Meanwhile, Goku's other relationships with Konzen, Kenren, and Tenpou only grow deeper. Later when Nataku is ordered by his father to kill Goku, Kenren and Tenpou try to step in, but it is only Goku's words that are able to halt Nataku's blade. Nataku can't disobey his father and in his only able act of rebelion, he turns his blade on himself. Goku becomes so upset that the metal stress forces his power limiter to break and he takes his true form, the Seiten Taisen. When the diadem was destroyed, Goku killed many celestial beings in his craze. Konzen, Tenpou, and Kenren work together to protect Goku, but there is little they can do. In the end all four are banished from Heaven and Goku was locked in stone cage deep in the high Mountain of Gogyou yama. All his memories were also sealed away in heaven, all but his name that Konzen had given him. The act of sealing his memories was left to Merciful Goddess who claimed that taking Goku's memories and leaving his name was her one true act of mercy. Background It is not known at this time how long Goku stayed in Heaven, but because Goku committed crimes, such as killing thousands of soldiers in the heavenly army and then revolting against heaven with Konzen, Tenpou and Kenren, he was banished and ultimately imprisoned on the summit of Mt. Gogyou. He stayed there for 500 years with no memory of how he got there. This seems to also be the reason for his appetite later on in the story. After not eating a bite for 500 years Goku's body now seem to be trying to make up for lost time by consuming food a lot faster. (Sanzo mentions this in one of the earlier episodes of the first series. This supported by the fact that in the Saiyuki Gaiden series, he's never seen complaining about food). During his imprisonment, Goku's life became uneventful and lonely in his prison cell. Longing for freedom and the company of others, Goku became withdrawn, and ultimately depressed. His release from prison was a gradual process that spanned the first part of Sanzo's life, Goku began to call for help and only Sanzo could hear him, at first Sanzo ignored him, but, as Sanzo himself mentions, the noise was annoying him so he came and found him to smacking his over the head and tell him to shut up. After years of waiting, someone reached the summit and stood by his cell. Asking "why are you calling me?", Goku met Priest Genjyo Sanzo for the first time. After a confused conversation on Goku's part, Sanzo freed Goku and together, they made their way down the mountain. Sanzo wanted nothing to do with the young boy, even telling him to get lost, but Goku told him that he wouldn't know where to go in the first place. After Goku tells Sanzo that he was probably always calling out to someone with his heart, Sanzo allowed Goku to follow him. From there, he stayed in The Temple in Chang'an where Sanzo kept him his a shed for a couple of weeks before speaking with the Three Aspects and allowing Goku to roam the temple afterwards. Sanzo becomes something of a guardian for Goku. Goku accompanies Sanzo on his mission to track down Cho Gonou (Cho Hakkai) for the crime of killing 1000 yokai, and helps to prevent Hakkai from killing himself. Hakkai later becomes his teacher. Goku becomes immediately attached to Sanzo, a bond which spanned two lifetimes for the blonde male, who was at first Konzen and is now Sanzo. This bond is also strong with the other members of the Sanzo Party as they all have ties in their previous lives, though only Goku has the faintest memories of it, fleeting, like a face or a voice in a dream. True Form In four instances in the series, Goku's diadem - which is his power limiter - has been removed, causing him to revert to his true form (Seiten Taisei or Great Sage Equaling Heaven). He's done it willingly only twice. The first time Goku reverted to his true form, the diadem was broken by Goku's emotional grief and anger when Sanzo was near-fatally wounded. The last and most current time his power limiter has been removed was when he was wounded and on the verge of death; with Hakkai failing to heal him in time, both he and Gojyo decide to remove his diadem, thinking that Goku could possibly recover in his true form. When Goku is in his true form, his hair becomes noticeably longer (about waist length), his ears become pointed, his eyes become slitted, his nails turn into claws, and his teeth become fangs. Also, not visible while he's wearing a shirt, Goku bares a demon mark like most demons. His is a strange sun still tattoo on his stomach above his navel. Goku in his true form is quite possibly the most dangerous opponent the main characters have faced in the series. While normally fighting seems like a game to him, in his true form he enjoys fighting in a bloodthirsty, sadistic sense and enjoys inflicting pain on others; even going so far as beating his enemies when they can't fight back. He is very destructive and cruel, and nearly invincible. His speed and attack power also increase dramatically; he can move so fast that often others can't even see him. His strength increases so much that he's able to easily inflict near fatal wounds on Gojyo and Hakkai with a few blows, and also once bent Gojyo's shakoju just by holding it in his hand. He's also far more durable in this form, shrugging off nearly every attack he's ever hit with. If something actually can hurt him, he use the energy of the earth to heal himself, which is what happened after Hakkai and Gojyo removed his diadem in a last effort to save him. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, but then Goku jumped onto a nearby roof in his true form and used the energy of the earth heal himself and during the battle to restore Goku back to normal, Seiten Taisei Son Goku controlled the energy of weather and nature to fight Hakkai and Gojyo. This shows that his power is comparable to that of a god, making Goku not unlike an immortal. After Goku's diadem is removed/broken, Goku loses all sanity when transforming into the Great Sage. This transformation causes him to become bloodthirsty and sadistic. Perhaps the biggest characteristic of his true form is that Goku can not differentiate friend from foe; causing him to attack Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai as fiercely as he does his enemies. When the Seiten Taisei is released, Goku experiences a sort of 'flashback' often seeing a person whom looks familiar but whom he can't remember. This is actually Konzen Douji, Genjo Sanzo's former incarnation, the god who looked after Goku when he was younger. Even though Goku's memories were sealed away 500 years ago, it is possible that turning into his true form frequently causes some stronger memories to return to him for an instant, or that the Seiten Taisei's power is causing the seal to fade. However, no information in the story so far supports this. Son Goku in Saiyuki Burial got his diadem broken due to his emotions welling up badly. Luckily Sanzo got to control him when he knew who and what he was fighting. Also in Burial, we see a strange occurrence. The Seiten speaks. Normally while in his demonic form, Goku never utters anything more intelligible then his cruel laughter or a growl. This scene in Burial may mean that the Seitan in capable of speech as well. An interesting note is Goku didn't receive his limiter until he arrived in Tenkai and he states in episode 40 of the first series that the people in the lower world were more friendly than the celestial beings in Tenkai. This shows Seiten Taisei has had contact with humans and that originally, Seiten Taisei wasn't sadistic and bloodthristy and he didn't obtain that personality until Goku's limiter broke in Gaiden when Nataku mortally wounded himself. Weapon Goku wields a staff called the "Nyoi Bo", which is a clear reference to Sun Wukon's staff in Journey to the West. There is no explanation given in the anime as to the origin of Goku's weapon; in the manga, it is revealed that the Nyoi-bo was sealed in a canister in the temple, which he and Gojyo shattered whilst goofing off. Aside from practical uses, he can cause it grow in length, and in some instances used its lengthening powers to impale enemies from a distance. At times he can also make the Nyoi Bo separate (connected by chains at the splits) into a sectioned staff; he usually uses this form of his staff to hack away at things, like plant roots in a couple cases. Usually, however, he just uses it to fight up close. But then there are times when Goku doesn't even use his weapon and just fights with his bare hands. Trivia *"Bakazaru", "foolish monkey" or "idiot monkey", is Goku's most common nickname acknowledging he is the Monkey King in this journey. Gojyo also sometimes calls him just "saru" meaning monkey. *Goku can't eat wasabi. *Hakkai's ghost stories are one thing that can scare Goku in an instant. *Souichirou Hoshi is Goku's voice actor in Japanese. His original English voice actor was Greg Ayres, followed in Reload and Reload Gunlock by Yuri Lowenthal. While in the Premium OVA, Kousuke Okano voices him instead. *Goku's English voice actor in Gensomaden Saiyuki and his seiyuu both voiced Tomoki Sakurai in Heaven's Lost Property or Sora no Otoshimono. *Goku's first English voice actor, Greg Ayres, and Hakkai's seiyuu, Ishida Akira, have shared some roles; two being Chrono in Chrono Crusade and Kaworu Nagisa in Neon Genesis Evangelion. *When Goku was younger, he possessed a fear of the snow. A fear that derives from his time in the cave when the snow muted out the world and made everything cold. The Sanzo party help him get over this fear some time before the beginning of the journey. *Kazuya Minekura drew Goku showing what he would like if he were 10 years older than he is now. It's at the end of the chapter in the interview section of the latest zerosum magazine. Gallery ImAGEset_001.2.png|Son Goku: Gensoumaden Saiyuki ImAGEset_002.2.png|Son Goku: Reload and on... ImAGEset_003.2.png|Saiyuki Reload Ending theme 2 ImAGEset_004.2.png|Early Image 001 ImAGEset_005.2.png|Early Image 002 ImAGEset_006.2.png|Early Image 003 ImAGEset_007.2.png|Early Image 004 ImAGEset_008.2.png ImAGEset_009.2.png ImAGEset_010.2.png ImAGEset_011.2.png ImAGEset_012.2.png ImAGEset_013.2.png ImAGEset_014.2.png ImAGEset_015.2.png ImAGEset_016.2.png Gaiden Images ImAGEset_001.11.png ImAGEset_002.11.png ImAGEset_003.11.png ImAGEset_004.11.png Gaidenchibigoku.jpg ImAGEset_006.11.png ImAGEset_007.11.png ImAGEset_008.11.png ImAGEset_010.11.png|Goku from Saiyuki Anime ImAGEset_011.11.1.png ImAGEset_011.11.2.png cha_02_03.jpg ImAGEset_012.11.png ImAGEset_013.11.png ImAGEset_014.11.png ImAGEset_015.11.png ImAGEset_016.11.png ImAGEset_017.11.png Category:Main Characters Category:Characters Category:Saiyuki Gaiden